


Loveable Nerds and Superheroes

by theartofdreaming



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-06 10:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6750190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theartofdreaming/pseuds/theartofdreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iris and Wally West meet nerdy Barry Allen when Wally loses his aunt while grocery shopping. The three hit it off immediately, but Iris can't help but feel that Barry is keeping some kind of secret... Featuring 8-year-old Wally West :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This started out as an one-shot based on the prompt: “I lost my little brother [nephew] at the grocery store and you found him and now it seems like you two are best friends and he doesn’t wanna lose contact with you so it seems like i’ll have to get your number - at least your hella cute” AU. But it soon turned into something more... actually, this is the longest multi-chaptered fic I've ever written, so I'm quite fond of it ^^  
> Wally is Iris's 8-year-old nephew in this story because a) it fit the prompt description better and b) this was written before Keiynan Lonsdale was cast, so I based this on what I knew from the comics (which was not much, I admit), cartoons and dc wikia ^^;  
> I hope you'll enjoy it anyway :)  
> (I'll post a new chapter every second day (hoping that I maaaaybe will have finished the first chapter of the sequel by the time I have uploaded all eight chapters); so if you like to read the whole story in one go, you should be able to do so on Wednesday in two weeks.)

It was Friday in Central City, late afternoon. The supermarket was brimmed with people, bustling through the aisles, shoving full shopping carts in front of them.

“Aww man, do we really have to, Aunt Iris?” A gap-toothed 8-year-old boy, wearing a baseball hat from the CC Museum of Science, whined, sending a pleading look towards a beautiful young woman who let out an exasperated sigh.

“Yes, Wally, we have to. I'm really sorry but there are still a couple of things we're gonna need for dinner with your grandpa,” she tried to appease her nephew, “I made a list with everything we still need. We shouldn't take too long, I promise.”

The boy grimaced upon hearing that reply, shoulders slumping, but compliantly trudged behind his aunt nonetheless.

“Come on, it won't be **that** bad,” Iris reassured him, digging the grocery list out of her handbag while pushing the shopping cart forward, “we will be out of here sooner than you think.”

“Mh-hm,” Wally grunted miserably, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Suddenly, his face lit up: “Y'know, I bet the Flash can do grocery shopping in a matter of seconds! That would be so practical, don't you think?”

Iris couldn't help but grin at Wally's sudden enthusiasm as he talked about his idol, Central City's newfound hero.

“Yeah, I guess that would be practical. Though I doubt that his super speed would be of any help when he has to wait in line to pay for his groceries,” she winked at her nephew, then continued to inspect the peppers.

 

30 minutes later, Iris desperately wished that she could have the Flash's superpower. Thanks to the sheer masses of people, finding everything took twice as long as usual.

“I think we earned ourselves some ice cream,” she declared decidedly, while double-checking if all of the needed groceries were in the cart. “How about you choose a flavor?”

No response.

“Wally?” Iris looked up from the grocery list, a feeling of dread emerging. She glanced around anxiously but no sight of the 8-year-old boy. Iris felt herself break out into sweat:

“Wally?!”

While Iris was fretting about the absence of her nephew, the boy in question was engrossed in the magazines near the exit of the supermarket. He had spotted them at an parallel aisle while following his aunt and was immediately drawn to them, completely forgetting about Iris's instruction not to leave her side at any time. Blending out his surroundings, Wally ventured off to the shelf and took in the enormous collection, eyes wide with awe. His glance came to linger on the science magazines. The 8-year-old grabbed the closest one in reach and leafed through it, enraptured. After browsing a couple more magazines, Wally began wondering if he could somehow persuade Iris to maybe buy him one... and came to the sudden realization that he had no clue where his aunt exactly was. Wally only now became aware of how packed the supermarket actually was, his eyes wandering about anxiously, a feeling of panic slowly creeping in.

“Hey, are you okay? Are you lost?” A concerned voice broke Wally out of his terror. The boy looked up, a young man around Aunt Iris's age eyed him worriedly.

“I... I lost my aunt,” Wally stammered helplessly, tears forming in his eyes.

A look of sympathy dawned on the man's face. “Hey, don't worry, you'll find your aunt... I'll help you,” he said in a soothing voice, trying to calm down the boy in front of him. “I think it will be for the best for us to just stay here. We are close to the checkout counters and the exit, so your aunt is bound to come by here. You'll both find each other in no time!” The man smiled at Wally encouragingly, before he realized that he had never properly introduced himself to the kid: “Oh, and I'm Barry, by the way.”

“I'm Wally,” the boy replied, flashing a small, tooth-gaped smile towards Barry, clutching the magazine he most recently flipped through closer to his chest.

Barry's green eyes flickered to the magazine, then to the baseball cap on Wally's head, a smile forming on his lips as he found the perfect way to distract the kid from his despair: “So, Wally, you like science?...”

In the meantime, Iris was running around the supermarket frantically, asking everyone who crossed her path if they had seen her 8-year-old nephew... But no one answered affirmatively (if they answered at all – people were particularly grumpy as they were rushing through the store). After another curt, unhelpful response, Iris came to a halt, people shoving past her. Distraught, she made the decision to head for the exit, to maybe ask one of the cashiers to call out for Wally... A nervous wreck, Iris forcefully pushed the cart ahead until she caught a glimpse of a familiar looking baseball cap -

“Wally?!”

The boy's face brightened instantaneously at the familiar voice, eyes searching for hers immediately.

“Aunt Iris!” He cried, running into his aunt's arms, hugging her tightly.

“I have been worried sick about you!” Iris muttered into the kid's t-shirt, returning the embrace equally strongly.

“I'm sorry, I got distracted and then I lost you,” Wally apologized meekly, eyes glued to the floor and shoulders slumped in shame.

“Well, luckily we found each other again,” Iris soothed her nephew, whose guilty conscience was weighing on him, “But promise me to never, ever do that again. I'm too young to suffer from a heart attack, okay?”

Wally gave her a faint smile, nodding eagerly. He nervously rolled a battered issue of a science magazine in his hands. “It was Barry's idea to wait here at the exit for you; he said that you would just have to come by!” The boy exclaimed, pointing towards a tall man just a few feet away from them.

Iris examined said ' **Barry** ' closely; he appeared to be around her age, was tall and lanky, had brunette hair and pretty green eyes and was currently blushing under her glance – he was actually pretty damn cute.

“Barry Allen,” he stammered nervously, holding out his hand in greeting.

“Iris West,” Iris introduced herself, smiling brightly while shaking his hand, happy to have found her nephew again, “thank you for keeping an eye on Wally.”

“It was nothing, really,” he smiled back, a dazed look on his face.

“Guess what! Barry works at the CCPD!” Wally chimed in excitedly, “He's a police scientist!”

“Oh, really?” Iris asked surprised, nose scrunched up in thought. Then her face lit up in recognition: “Ooh, you are that CSI who is always late, right?”

Barry flushed bright red at that comment, a puzzled look on his face.

“My dad is Detective West,” Iris explained, amused by his reaction.

“Oh,” the CSI spluttered, dumbfounded, face still glowing crimson.

“Barry said that he could show me around his lab sometime!” Wally threw in, eyes shining with exhilaration.

“If your aunt is okay with that,” the young man added, smiling nervously.

Iris grinned appreciatively: “Well, we have two more weeks to kill before school vacation is over and I'm certain Wally would enjoy it tremendously, so... as long as you're up to it, sure,” her grin widened as Wally beamed at her, obviously happy with her response.

“Let's exchange phone numbers so we can arrange a date!” Iris proposed. “For the lab tour, I mean,” she clarified with a chuckle when she saw the baffled expression on Barry's face.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” he stuttered – _**was it just her or was he looking kind of disheartened?**_ – fumbling for his cellphone.

They quickly swapped their cell numbers and – after Iris assured Wally that she would buy him the already-crumpled magazine – said their good-byes (not before Iris casted a disbelieving look at Barry's incredibly full shopping cart – _**how could he be**_ **that** _ **gangly and eat like a horde of 5-year-olds**_?!).

* * *

 

Barry had just managed to carry all of his grocery bags home safely (a rather impressive feat considering the amount of food he had bought) and was just putting milk, cheese and the like in his refrigerator, when he received a text message. He froze when he read who had sent it. The text was from Iris:

“ **Hey Barry! I definitely wouldn't mind arranging another not-lab-related date... if you're up to it ;) Iris”**

Barry was literally buzzing with excitement while hastily typing his response.

* * *

 

When Iris sat down in front of her laptop to check for new Flash sightings for her blog the next day, her in-box was filled with a lot of messages. The Flash had apparently been busy dealing out little pleasantries, everything from retrieving your typical cat in the tree or other lost pets to their rightful owner to painting fences or house walls. Several eye witnesses (or rather ear witnesses, considering that Central City's personal superhero moved so fast that most people could barely see him) had reported that the usual ' _whoosh_ ' sound that was associated with the Scarlet Speedster had also been accompanied by cheerful whistling.

“Seems like I wasn't the only one who was having a great day yesterday,” Iris thought smiling, already looking forward to the lab tour she would go along with Wally tomorrow (not to mention the date she was going to go on with the adorable nerdy Barry the day after).

 


	2. The Lab Tour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry shows Iris and Wally around his lab.

Iris's excitement for the lab tour was only exceeded by Wally's. The little boy was so pumped by the prospect of seeing a real lab up close, that he could barely stay still for more than five minutes. When Wally had been telling his grandpa about Iris's and his experience at the supermarket and Barry's proposal to show them around, he nearly fell off his chair because he was wiggling so much. Even after another meaningful glance from Grandpa Joe (who always had this aura of authority about him, even though he was usually just the most fun grandfather ever – but that probably came along with being a detective), Wally couldn't help but squirm every now and then. Joe acknowledged Wally's effort to at least try to sit still, though, and didn't dwell on the boy's fidgetiness.

“You'll probably learn quite a lot on your tour,” the detective said, helping himself to another portion of noodle casserole, “Barry Allen might be perpetually late, but he is the best forensic assistant we've ever had...” – Iris couldn't help but feel really happy that her Dad spoke so highly of the sweet, kind-hearted CSI – “it's been a real relief that he had been able to reintegrate into the police force so easily. Not many people recover that well from being struck by lightning and a nine-month coma ..”

“What?!” Iris and Wally gasped in unison, Wally's eyes nearly popping out of his head.

“I told you about it,” Joe replied confused, looking at his daughter, “the night that the particle accelerator exploded...”

Something stirred in the back of Iris's mind: “Oh... I think you talked about the “Allen-kid”... I guess I just didn't make the connection..” Iris mumbled, still incredulous.

Joe shrugged: “He was struck in the crime lab... I don't know much about the time he spent in a coma... I think he had been transferred to S.T.A.R. Labs for some reason... Then, nine months later, he came back, as if nothing happened. Since then, he's been as eager and tardy as always. Maybe a bit more unpunctual than before.”

“Woow”, Wally whispered, frozen with awe.

 

After dinner, Wally hovered over Iris until she agreed to text Barry about a date for the lab tour. She actually had sent the CSI a message before dinner (not that she necessarily wanted her nephew to know what it had been about), but both Iris and Barry had forgotten to fix a day for their _other_ date at the precinct.

He replied pretty quickly, asking if the day after tomorrow sounded good (yes, it did). When she told Wally, the 8-year-old bounced with anticipation, grabbing the science magazine Iris had bought and ran off to the guest room to read it for the umpteenth time, this time furiously writing down questions he could ask. Iris later found Wally passed out on the bed, surrounded by many sheets of paper.

“Barry has no idea what he's gotten himself into,” Iris thought amusedly while turning off the bedside lamp.

* * *

 The day of the lab tour finally arrived (not just finally because Iris couldn't wait to meet Barry Allen again, but also because she'd had her hands full with an exuberant Wally). Since it was a Sunday, the precinct was relatively empty – though of course neither crime nor law sleeps at any time. Because they had arrived a bit too early (and Barry was yet nowhere to be seen), Iris chatted with some officers and detectives she knew and Wally examined the police station with wide eyes. It was exactly 3 p.m. - the arranged time for their tour – and still, there was no green-eyed forensic scientist (not that Iris was too surprised; after everything she had heard from her dad, she had expected that). Instead, her father's new partner – Eddie Thawne – came over, obviously surprised to see her here.

“Hey Iris; your father is not here, in case you're looking for him,” Detective Pretty Boy (as Iris had dubbed him) greeted her awkwardly, apparently still uncomfortable around her (last time they had seen each other, Eddie had asked her out on a date, but Iris had told him that she wasn't interested).

“ **We** ” – Iris pulled Wally closer to her, as he had started to wander off again, “are not looking for my dad, - “

“We're gonna get a tour around the lab!” Wally bursted out excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.

“Exactly,” Iris smiled, infected by the boy's exhilaration. “This is my nephew, Wally,” she explained to the blonde police man, “Wally, this is Eddie. He is also a detective; he and grandpa work together.”

“Hi,” Wally politely shook hands with the detective, before letting his eyes wander about the room again.

“Lab tour?” Eddie asked with a confused look on his face.

“Yeah, “ Iris replied, “Wally loves science and we were both invited by -”

“Barry!” The 8-year-old exclaimed, waving excitedly to the CSI that was sheepishly making his way towards them.

“Hey Wally, Iris!” he blushed faintly while saying her name. “Eddie.” He nodded towards the detective in greeting who nodded back, eyes darting back and forth between Iris and Barry.

Both Wests greeted the scientist equally excitedly.

“Sorry, I'm late,” Barry apologized hastily, while Eddie was returning back to his desk after a short good-bye, “I... had an appointment with my... physician at S.T.A.R. Labs.” He nodded a bit while saying the sentence, like he was particularly satisfied with the way he phrased his excuse. _**Odd.**_

“Because you got hit by lightning?” Wally asked eagerly, still completely in awe that the man who was leading Iris and him upstairs to his lab, had experienced such a thing.

“Something like that,” Barry replied vaguely, before noticing Iris's suspicious look, “Caitlin – Dr. Snow, that is – is very thorough with her check-ups,” he specified, again looking like he was carefully choosing his words.

Before Iris could go into the matter (because her gut feeling was telling her that there was something fishy going on here), they arrived at the crime laboratory and Wally was close to freaking out.

“So... how about I show you guys around and explain some of the equipment? What do you say, Wally?” Barry suggested grinning, while Wally was just nodding enthusiastically, obviously delighted.

“Alright, let's start with the centrifuge...”

* * *

 'Some of the equipment' hadn't been entirely true – due to Wally's rapture, Barry ended up explaining every single device in his lab. The 8-year-old soaked all of the information up like a sponge, every now and then surprising Iris and Barry with an exceptionally well thought out question. Although Iris had primarily come along to accompany Wally (and see the adorable forensic assistant again), she found herself being really intrigued by Barry's explanations – maybe because he was so passionate about it.

After that, Wally dug the sheets of paper Iris had seen him write out of his backpack and read Barry his questions, who patiently answered every one of them (or at least promised to research the ones he couldn't immediately answer, writing them down so he wouldn't forget them).

“Then we have to meet up again some other time!” Wally noted happily, stuffing his papers back into his rucksack.

“It would appear so,” Barry replied, smiling. “Maybe we can even run one or two experiments then.” Wally actually started bouncing up and down when he heard this proposition, making Iris and Barry laugh.

“This is the best!” The kid cheered, still beaming. “I mean, the only thing better than that would be meeting the Flash... so it's more like a second-best thing...then again, meeting the Flash is not very likely, at least not when you're not in danger...” Wally babbled on, not noticing how Barry nearly missed a step while they were heading downstairs again. Iris, however, did, knitting her eyebrows. _**Weird**_.

Before Iris and Wally could head back home, Wally needed to use the restroom and, after receiving the necessary directions to find it, left the two young adults alone.

“A very interesting tour, Mr. Allen” Iris teased, smiling.

“Why, thank you Miss West,” Barry shot back playfully.

Then he turned a bit more serious and even more nervous: “Soo... About tomorrow...” He shuffled his feet anxiously, rubbing his neck with one hand.

“Yeah?” Iris couldn't help but get infected by Barry's restlessness.

“Ehm... I was wondering... if you liked Italian?” The CSI sent her an cautious look.

“Yes, I definitely like Italian,” she let out a liberating laugh.

Barry just looked relieved. “Great. I made a reservation at _Tony's_ , I hope you don't mind that?”

“Nope, not at all. I love the food at _Tony's_ ,” she reassured him, still incredulous how he could have been **that** worried simply over the choice of food and restaurant.

“Great,” he repeated, fiddling with his fingers, “is 8 okay?”

“Sure, sounds great,” Iris smiled appeasingly, “how about we meet at the restaurant?” She suggested, guessing that Barry probably wouldn't be too eager to run into her dad on their first date.

The relief on his face proved her suspicions right, “great.”

“But you better not be too late,” she winked, watching the tips of his ears turning pink.

Before Barry could reply, Wally returned from the men's room, unaware of what the two had been discussing.

“So... I hope you had fun, Wally,” Barry said, changing the subject.

“Yeah,” Wally beamed, “thanks.” And with that, the boy lunged forward, giving Barry a quick hug.

Iris chuckled at Barry's baffled reaction: “Beware! He'll start another fan club before you know it!”

“Aunt Iris!” Wally whined, while his aunt was ruffling his hair affectionately, mumbling something about her not being allowed to join his Flash fan club if she kept teasing him.

Barry just grinned, replying that he could live with that.

 


	3. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big day of Iris and Barry's date has finally arrived!

This was it. Today was the day of Iris West's date with Barry Allen.

Iris had been extra nervous throughout the entire day, getting on Mason's nerves (though that didn't mean much – her mentor at the newspaper got unnerved easily). The worst thing was that beside the normal (maybe a little over the top) excitement that came along with a first date, Iris also had to do everything in her power not to sit down and research about Barry.

She was completely aware of how weird that urge was, but something about Barry's strange reactions yesterday had triggered something in her (Wally used to joke that her “journalism sense was tingling”, whenever she went all-out with her investigations, trying to dig up as much information as she could). Despite the good time she and Wally had had during their lab tour, Iris couldn't help but feel that Barry was keeping something big from her – which was completely ridiculous of her, considering that they hadn't even been on a date that actually was supposed to serve the purpose of getting to know each other better, as her friend Tracy from Jitters had pointed out when Iris had talked to her in the morning while getting her coffee fix.

* * *

 In the early evening, Iris's excitement hadn't lessened one bit. She was inspecting several potential date-dresses that she had spread on her bed, when a quick knock sounded on her bedroom door. Shortly after that it opened, her dad peeking into her room

“Hey Baby, Wally and I thought about ordering pizza – are you going somewhere?” The cop asked surprised, seeing the dresses.

“Yeah, I.. I have a date,” Iris stated nervously,“ I guess I must've forgotten to tell you.” Only that she hadn't – she rather had decided to omit this particular piece of information.

“Uh-huh,” Joe hummed, obviously not believing her about the 'forgetting'-part.

Iris pretended not to notice, hanging two options back into her closet, leaving two dresses still lying on the bed. She also ignored the inquisitive glance her dad was bestowing on her and instead pondered whether she should choose the red backless dress or the short, light pink one with intricate embroidery on the bodice.

“You're not planning on telling me who your date is, are you?”

“Nope,” Iris replied, finally deciding to go for the pink dress, putting the other one back into her wardrobe, “it's just a date, Dad. No need to make a big deal out of it.” While saying these words out loud, Iris realized that actually _she_ was the one to make a big deal out of her date, being unusually secretive about it. She could tell by the look on her father's face that he'd had the exact same thought.

“Uh-huh.” Before Joe could say much more, Wally dashed into the room, phone in hand.

“I thought we wanted to order in,” the boy pointed out, suspiciously eyeing the dress draped over Iris's arm.

“Seems like your aunt is going on a date tonight.” Her dad might have said that sentence in the most casual voice, but Iris could tell by the mischievous glint in his eyes that he meant it anything but casual.

“With who?” Wally immediately responded to it, using that tone of voice that meant he wouldn't stop pestering Iris with questions until he knew.

“With who **m** ,” Iris corrected him, hoping to distract the boy long enough to scurry into the bathroom across the hallway to change.

It didn't work. _**Go figure**_. He was a West, after all; no matter how distractable the 8-year-old might be, whenever Iris tried to sidetrack him purposely, it didn't work.

“Yeah, with whom?” Wally repeated, eyes glued on her.

Iris shot her father a stern look, who just observed the spectacle in front of him amusedly.

“Do we know him? What does he do? Is he also working at CCPN? Why haven't you told us about -”

“It's Barry, okay?” Iris blurted out under the barrage of questions. “I'm meeting Barry,” she murmured a bit more quietly, slightly blushing.

Wally stared at his aunt saucer-eyed. “Was yesterday a date, too?” he asked, befuddled.

“No, of course not,” Iris appeased her nephew who just looked utterly confused, “yesterday was just a lab tour. Barry and I just decided that we'd like to go out for dinner today, that's it.”

The 8-year-old shook his head in disbelief. “This is soo weird,” he announced, then waddled out of the room. Joe let out a short chuckle, then left Iris's room to order the pizza.

* * *

 Iris arrived at the restaurant right on time; while she was debating whether she should wait outside (because, clearly, Barry wouldn't be here just yet) or already ask for their table, a breathy “hey” startled Iris out of her thoughts. She turned around and was taken aback to see a panting Barry Allen right behind her.

“Oh wow, you are punctual!” Iris couldn't help but blurt out, eyeing the light gray suit he was wearing – and came to the conclusion that he wore it very well.

“What's with the surprise?” Barry replied, pouting, “I know when a woman is worth being on time for.” Right after the words tumbled out of his mouth, his eyes widened comically, face turning beet-red.

Iris felt her heart flutter at his words. “I bet you say that to all the girls,” she teased while motioning towards the entrance of the restaurant, trying to put Barry at ease.

Being a true gentleman, he held the door open for Iris, muttering something under his breath. It sounded suspiciously much like “what other girls?”, but in consideration of his current complexion and her fear that his head might burst into flames if he got any redder, Iris pretended not to have heard Barry's mumbling. Speaking of flames, as the waiter led both young adults to their table, Iris noticed a faint smell of smoke coming off Barry. Since she didn't peg the young scientist as a smoker (and he wasn't smelling of tobacco, but the real fire kind of smoke), – **and was that soot right below his left ear?** – Iris just asked him forthrightly about it as soon as they were seated.

“Oh.” Barry rubbed the spot Iris had pointed at furiously, not meeting her eyes. “Ehm... there was a little accident... on the job, yeah,” he spluttered, again with that strange look on his face that he'd sported yesterday while talking about his doctor's appointment, “nothing too serious, though.”

“You better not conduct any possible explosive and/or flammable experiments with Wally, then,” Iris said, half-joking, half-serious.

“Nah, don't worry; a friend of mine actually gave me the idea to experiment with sound waves and stuff,” Barry placated her, thinking of Cisco's overeagerness when he had asked the engineer for some ideas that would look cool to show an 8-year-old (and were, apparently, not limited to that age group). “More along the lines of making glass shatter by using resonance or showing the qualities of oobleck by putting it on a subwoofer - “

“Quality of what?” Iris interjected, eyebrows furrowed, a weird sense a familiarity flashing up upon hearing that strange word.

“Oobleck. A mixture of cornstarch and water that is a non-Newtonian fluid – a dilatant fluid, to be precise – whose viscosity increases with increased physical pressure and – and I'm going full nerd on you, aren't I?” Barry stopped his ramblings, blushing.

Iris just grinned, finding his passionate babbling endearing: “No worries; at least, you're the cutest nerd that I know.”

The beaming smile she got in return made Iris's stomach flutter, but hers wasn't the only one to react; Barry's stomach suddenly growled not-so-silently, making them both realize that they hadn't even ordered yet.

They both let out a nervous laugh, then started to study the menus.

All of sudden, Iris remembered from where she knew that strange word, causing her to erupt into giggles, which in turn earned herself a bewildered glance from Barry.

“Sorry,” she chuckled, eyes twinkling with mirth, ”I just realized that Wally's next visit to your lab is going to be a very special rendition of **'Bartholomew and the Oobleck'** – yes, I read Dr. Seuss as a child.” Iris amusedly watched Barry bury his face into his hands – partly from exasperation, partly from embarrassment.

“Aww, chin up! Your namesake was really adorable running around the castle, trying to warn everyone about the oobleck and even standing up to the king himself and making him apologize for the predicament he'd gotten his kingdom in,” Iris teased the CSI shamelessly until a waiter came to his rescue (and to take their orders).

* * *

 Their date went incredibly well. Both Iris and Barry had a lot of fun, swapping stories like they'd known each other forever, teasing one another playfully. After an insanely big amount of tiramisu – Iris had insisted on and Barry had been all for it (he'd ended up eating most of it since Iris had completely overestimated her ability to eat much more after the biggest portion of _Tagliatelle al Salmone_ she ever had been served at _Tony's_ and she had the nagging feeling that it was due to Barry's presence that they got these unbelievable enormous servings) – Barry insisted on walking her home. They were comfortably walking alongside each other, enthusiastically chattering about the pro and cons of the Harry Potter movies vs. the books (and although they both liked the movies quite a lot, the cinematic universe didn't fare too well in comparison to the books) when Iris became aware how ridiculously perfect the evening had been. She glanced at Barry babbling about what a pity it was that Molly, Arthur and Bill's appearance at Hogwarts as Harry's family instead of the Dursleys never made its way into the fourth movie, while she was wearing Barry's suit jacket (he had offered her because it had become quite chilly this night) and thought that she could easily get used to this.

Ultimately, they arrived at the front door of the West residence, awkwardly standing on the porch, not really wanting to say good night just yet.

“Soo...” Barry stuttered, rubbing his neck nervously.

“I had a great time,” Iris smiled, turning around so Barry could help her take off his jacket. “We should do it again sometime,” she suggested, speaking over her shoulder, while the jacket was sliding off her shoulders.

“Definitely,” Barry whispered, his breath on her neck sending shivers down Iris's spine. She spun around to face him, all of sudden becoming aware of their close proximity. Maybe it was just her overactive imagination, but Iris couldn't shake the feeling that the air around Barry and her was crackling with electricity, the static making the hair on her neck stand on end...

Their magical moment was broken however, when suddenly the door opened and Wally and Joe appeared in the doorway.

“Dad! Wally!” Iris cried out disgruntedly, blushing together with Barry who had darted away in a quick motion, face glowing in the darkness.

“Sorry, Baby. I was just reminding Wally of his curfew,-” the pajamas-clad boy sported an impish, gap-toothed grin, “but he heard something outside and was hoping to get some answers to his questions from yesterday.” Joe (and Iris) gave Wally a stern look, the smile crumbling off the 8-year-old's face.

“Evening Wally... Detective West,” Barry spluttered shyly, rubbing his neck anxiously.

“I'm not on duty right now... Joe works just fine,” the cop offered, earning a nod of approval from his daughter.

“Joe.” The young man repeated, now fumbling with something in his jacket pocket. He finally dug out a piece of paper, glancing uncertainly from Iris to Joe to Wally and back to Iris again. “I actually have most of the answers with me,” Barry mumbled, gesturing with the sheet.

“Well, aren't you a boy scout,” Iris mused, astonished, “always prepared.”

“Cool!” Wally burst out excitedly, forgetting that he probably shouldn't attract any attention to himself right now.

“And **you** ,” Iris said warningly, glaring at her nephew, “ should be in bed by now.” The boy appeared to shrink under Iris's look, making her feel bad about the harsh tone in her voice. Iris sent a questioning glance to Barry, who seemed to understand what she meant to convey and nodded slightly in response.

“Fine,” Iris conceded, not wanting to be mean just because her overeager nephew had interrupted them, ”if Barry goes over the answers with you, do you promise to stay in bed and not complain?”

Wally looked as if Christmas had come early and nodded fervently.

“Okay,” Iris turned to Barry, smiling, “I guess that means you're coming inside.”

* * *

 Half an hour later, Barry and Iris were standing on the porch again, this time Iris had thrown on one of her own jackets to brave the cold of the night.

“Sorry about that,” Iris apologized, pulling a stubborn strand of hair behind her ear nervously.

“That's okay, really,” Barry shrugged. “It's great that your nephew is so eager for science. It's a lot of fun to explain stuff to him, knowing that he really appreciates it. It's nice.”

“I'm sure he's looking forward to his next meeting with you... just as I am,” Iris beamed up at the forensic scientist, letting herself be guided by the strange magnetic pull that drew her closer to him.

“I'm definitely, absolutely looking forward to our next meeting as we-” Iris cut Barry's rambling off by pulling him in for a kiss. She hadn't expected a feeling like one of an electric shock coursing through her entire body – from her lips to the tips of her fingers further down to her toes – making every inch of her skin tingle pleasantly and making her feel alive, so very much alive – they finally broke apart, both panting for air.

“Gee, you're one heck of a kisser,” Iris laughed breathlessly, while Barry was staring at her, completely flabbergasted.

Then, his cellphone started to ring.

“Sorry,” the CSI mumbled, pulling out his phone to glance at the display. A frown made its way unto his face. “I'm really sorry Iris, but I've got to go,” Barry spluttered hastily, squeezing Iris's hand apologetically, another electric shock flashing between their hands.

“I'll text – no, call – you later, I promise!” Barry shouted, stumbling down the stairs, nearly falling.

He left a completely dumbfounded Iris behind.

_**Something definitely fishy is going on here.** _

 


	4. Coffee and Research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Iris go on a coffee date... And Iris gives in to her "journalism sense", to finally figure out what Barry is hiding from her...

Barry did call later on. Or rather he texted before calling her to make sure Iris was still awake (if she hadn't been so bemused by his sudden disappearance, Iris would have found that incredibly funny). He had spluttered his apologies (they had been very general and not particularly illuminating, Iris noted) but since it was already fairly late, the young journalist was willing to let that slide. _**For now.**_

Iris suggested to meet for a lunch break at Jitters tomorrow (or rather, that day, considering it was already past midnight) and Barry more than readily agreed (the pure elation in his voice was kinda adorable).

She was just slipping under the covers of her bed to get some sleep, when her eyes involuntarily wandered to her laptop, reminding her that she still was none the wiser concerning Barry's odd behavior. Forcefully, Iris tore her gaze away from the computer, turned around and snuggled deeper into her blanket. _**Tomorrow..**_

* * *

It was about noon and Iris was sipping her second coffee when Barry finally arrived, an apologetic look on his face: “I'm soo sorry Iris, but there had been multiple homicides, pretty mysterious circumstances...”

That statement alone was enough to pique Iris's interest (she also noticed that this excuse was not nearly as vague as the ones she'd gotten yesterday night): “Mysterious, huh? Care to give a poor, innocent journalist and blogger about cryptic events some input on that?”

Barry let out a short laugh, then fought the urge to give in to Iris's powerful puppy dog pout: “Sorry, Iris, but I can't talk about an ongoing police investigation with you.” He fumbled nervously with the handle of his mug, nearly knocking the cup over in the process.

Now it was Iris's turn to laugh: “Gee, calm down Barry, I know that. Cop's daughter, remember?” She saw him relax at that remark, then decided to cut right to the chase: “But you could tell me what had been going on yesterday night... You took off quite abruptly – was there some kind of emergency?”

Barry turned into a nervous mess again: “Ehm, yeah, something like that...” he stuttered awkwardly – _'something like that_ ' actually meaning ' _stopping a bank heist_ ' but what else could he possibly say? – “I'm really sorry about that, Iris.”

“I know that, your numerous apologies convinced me of this,” the journalist remarked lightly, still hoping for some kind of explanation from the CSI.

But Barry only rubbed the back of his neck nervously and changed the subject: “Oh, by the way, I recently read your article about this community program over at Keystone. It was really good. You have a real gift for writing, Iris.”

The genuineness in his voice made Iris smile at his comment (although a part of her was disappointed the he'd forgone her previous question). Also, ' _recently_ ' clearly meant ' _today_ ' since she had only mentioned this article in passing yesterday on their date and Iris couldn't help but feel flattered that Barry actually remembered to look it up like he had fervently promised that evening.

“Thanks,” her joy about his compliment dissipated quickly though, a sour expression making its way unto Iris's face, “I wish my boss over at CCPN would see it that way; he turns down almost every topic I'm coming up with and only assigns me stuff that has at least remotely to do with the Flash.” – Barry's pastry fork dropped on his almost-empty plate with a small clatter (he'd been munching a piece of cheesecake) – “I don't necessarily mind that, but it bothers me that I don't really get to do anything else, except when nothing much world-shaking happened and he needs an filler-article... I don't like the thought that he only hired me because he was hoping I'd get him an exclusive Flash-scoop...”

“I'm not an expert in the world of journalism,” Barry said, looking somewhat uncomfortable, “but if your boss does not yet see what a great writer your are, Iris, then I'm sure you will make him see that.” Iris's smile made Barry more confident, “You have the talent for it... and the persistence it takes.”

“Aww, thank you, Barry,” Iris gave him a radiant smile, reaching over the table to squeeze Barry's hand gratefully, making the forensic scientist all light-headed.

The CSI smiled at Iris dopily, ears turning slightly pink.

The young journalist could barely suppress a giggle at his reaction.

“Also thank you for calling my stubbornness 'persistence',” Iris joked, eyes twinkling playfully.

“What can I say? I aim to please,” Barry retorted in an equally playful manner.

They both burst into laughter, acting like little children.

After a while, their giggling subsided, a comfortable silence settling in, only interrupted by the scraping of Barry's pastry fork over the empty plate, picking up the last crumbs left.

“Do you know Kopi Luwak?” Barry asked Iris completely out of the blue, putting the fork down, instead reaching for his mug, “It's real expensive coffee... There are these civets, also called toddy cats, that are native to India, Nepal, Sumatra, Cambodia and so on and they eat coffee berries and...” he broke off and took a big sip of his coffee to stop himself from talking, coming to the realization that coffee made from defecated seeds of coffee berries probably wasn't the most suitable topic for a coffee date...

Iris laughed at his awkward expression: “Yeah, I know about that. I used to work here at Jitters – not that we serve civet coffee, of course – but I'm also coffee crazy, soo...” As if on cue, the waitress that had been hired to take Iris's spot at Jitters appeared, offering to refill their cups. Grinning, Iris nodded, while Barry kindly declined and ordered another piece of cheesecake instead ( a “ _ **-Where the heck did he put all that food on his lanky frame?! This is so not fair-**_ ” crossed Iris's mind).

“Speaking of crazy, though – Wally is totally crazy about you,” Iris grinned at Barry who flushed slightly at this comment, “I think he would instantaneously adopt you into our family if he could.”

Barry chuckled, “Well, I'm glad I could win him over. He's a great kid.”

“He is. Just keep that in mind for the next time you let him into your lab; the poor guy is all excited about it and I might have seen him furiously scribbling down his next load of questions, so you better be prepared,” Iris teased, taking another sip from her cup.

“Actually, I wanted to invite the two of you to come over tomorrow afternoon, if you want to, of course... I think I should have analyzed the evidence by then so I can give you my undivided attention, although I can not guarantee to be able to answer all of Wally's question at once... that kid has a knack for complicated questions!”

They spent the rest of their coffee break chattering animatedly, until a random glance at the wall clock had Barry realize that he was going to be late for work. They hurriedly said their goodbyes, with Barry dashing out of the coffee shop and Iris leisurely making her way back to the CCPN.

* * *

 After getting home from work in the late afternoon, Iris sat herself down in front of her laptop, updating her blog with yesterday's sightings of the Flash – he'd been busy saving a lot of people from a burning building in the early evening, as well as foiling a bank robbery late at night. After adding the new posts, Iris dug out a small notepad out of her drawer. With an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, Iris started preparing her research on Barry, scribbling down every strange detail that had grabbed her attention, as well as everything that possibly could have been connected to those (she felt silly just writing it down but if Iris was going to investigate this, she was gonna do it right – with all data at hand, no matter how strange or seemingly irrelevant).

She really wished she wouldn't have to do it, but Barry's continuing secretiveness and the constant ' _tingling of her journalism sense'_ just wouldn't let her drop the issue. Then, Iris properly started her research, making use of the worldwide web.

Nothing could have prepared Iris for what she discovered:

The first results popping up had been about Barry being struck by lightning, an occasional one or two sentenced note about his transfer to S.T.A.R. Labs, then – nothing. In fact, ever since the particle accelerator had blown up there was no information to be found on what was going on in the S.T.A.R. Labs facility in Central City these days – especially now that Mercury Labs' popularity had rocketed high, drawing off the funding of their former rival... _**Very obscure**_...

Iris started digging deeper and although she couldn't find any more information on S.T.A.R. Labs, she very well discovered more about Barry himself; or rather, his family.

Horrified, Iris read articles claiming Henry Allen – Barry's father – to be charged and convicted as the murderer of his wife, Nora Allen, now serving a life-sentence in Iron Heights... but the newspapers also mentioned how the then eleven-year-old Barry still had continued to believe in his father's innocence, even after the police interview, insisting that somebody else had murdered his mother...

Iris's heart constricted with pain, sympathy welling up inside her for that little boy who had lost both of his parents to such a horrible tragedy (yes, Barry's dad was still alive but that didn't change the fact that his son had to grow up without either of his parents)... she felt in awe, thinking how that traumatized little boy had grown up and become the sweet, kind-hearted forensic scientist she had gotten to know...

Iris was still stomaching this newfound information, when a quick knock on her bedroom door startled her out of her thoughts.

“Aunt Iris? Dinner's ready; stir-fried vegetables,” Wally announced, grimacing. “Grandpa insisted that we eat something healthy after yesterday's pizza,” the boy added, obviously not happy with that arrangement.

Iris couldn't help but laugh at Wally's openly displayed misery, “C'mon let's go,” she prompted, heading towards the staircase, ruffling her nephew's hair, “maybe we can persuade your grandpa to let us have some ice cream afterwards, okay?”

“YES!” the 8-year-old shouted out enthusiastically, skipping down the stairs sprightly. _**Between his and Aunt Iris's puppy dog pouts, how could his grandpa possibly say no?**_

* * *

 And they did have ice cream for dessert. Thanks to that and Iris's announcement that Barry had invited her and Wally to another lab tour the following day, Wally was wide awake even as he was nearing his bedtime. In an attempt to at least calm the boy down until he would finally fall asleep, Iris offered to read a book with him.

“I'm eight years old, not five,” Wally reminded his aunt, lower lip jutted out in a pout, “I can read fine on my own.”

“I know that, kiddo. It's not about being able to read – it's about doing it together! And here I was, thinking that I'm your favorite aunt...” Iris joked, clutching her heart in a theatrical manner.

“You are my only aunt!” Wally laughed, grabbing his pajamas to head for the bathroom. Iris joined his laughter, poking her nephew's side while he's passing her. The boy let out a carefree giggle.

“But if I had another aunt, you'd still be my favorite,” he said earnestly before shutting the bathroom door, a bashful grin on his face.

As a reward for that cute remark, Iris picked out one particular interesting and funny book to read, an impish smile playing around her lips, and later on deliberately 'forgot' to look at the clock on the bedside table when it was clearly past Wally's bedtime, while her nephew was prattling on about the book, still wide awake.

An entire hour after Wally's assigned bedtime, Iris finally insisted he should get to sleep, so he wouldn't be tired the next day for their meeting at Barry's lab. This rationale actually had an effect on the boy, who did not utter one word of complaint, but instead buried himself deeper into his blanket.

After that, Iris returned to her own bedroom, turning her attention back to her 'research'. She started to put the pieces together and couldn't help but notice that they were all pointing in the same direction... _**But it couldn't be**_... It was completely crazy and impossible... – _**Only that it wasn't, was it?**_... Iris was still mulling over this absurd ( – but was it that absurd, actually?) idea when her dad looked in on her, wishing her a good night. And a glance at the clock on her desktop had her quickly get ready for bed as well. As strongly as she believed in the impossible; Iris just couldn't bring herself to believe this theory... _ **not yet, anyway**_...

 


	5. Sound Waves and Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris and Wally visit Barry at his lab again... and Iris's suspicions are further confirmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is loosely based on MUSE's "Black Holes and Revelations" (I don't know why ^^;)  
> Oh and emotional westallen scene ahead!

When Iris returned home early Wednesday afternoon to pick Wally up for their visit at Barry's crime lab, the 8-year-old was already ready to go, sitting on the step of the staircase, backpack fully packed, shoes tied neatly.

“Finally!” He exclaimed, hopping off the stair, slipping on his jacket in a quick move, “I've been waiting forever!”

Iris rolled her eyes at that comment, “I said I would be here at quarter to four... and I'm five minutes early,” she added after a quick glance at her watch.

Wally just waved his aunt's statement aside, tugging her arm, “C'mon... we better not be late!”

Iris laughed, letting herself being dragged away by her nephew, “Somehow I have the feeling that Barry wouldn't mind us being late.”

* * *

 Wally and Iris arrived at the precinct seven minutes earlier than they had to be there. As Iris predicted, Barry wasn't yet in the lobby to receive them. After five minutes of waiting (and her dad's encouraging nod to just go upstairs), both Wests climbed up the stairs, heading for the lab door. The door was ajar, multiple voices inside the crime lab were discussing something... With Wally chattering excitedly next to her, all Iris could make out was “ _meta-human_ ” and “ _gas_ ”... Iris could feel her stomach churning, again becoming very much aware of yesterday's findings she had forcefully pushed into the back of her mind. ' _ **Impossible**_ ', the young journalist reminded herself, trying to shake this weird feeling off.

Iris knocked extra loudly and the voices inside the laboratory immediately fell silent.

“Hi,” she greeted sheepishly, carefully entering the lab, Wally in tow, “I hope we are not interrupting something important? We can wait until you guys are done.” - Wally frowned at that suggestion, but didn't argue.

“Oh no, no, no!” Barry replied hastily, gesturing wildly, “You came just in time. Everything's ready.” Barry's green eyes flitted from Iris and her nephew to the two young adults that he must have been talking to just seconds ago, “- Ehm, Iris, Wally... these are my friends, Dr. Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon... Caitlin, Cisco... this is Iris and her nephew, Wally,” he introduced them nervously, still fidgeting. Iris could see Cisco's face lightening up when Barry said her name, mischievous glint in his eyes. Caitlin, on the other hand, appeared to be less enthusiastic, a polite, but cool smile on her lips while greeting both Wests. Iris couldn't help but feel that she had seen Caitlin and Cisco before, but couldn't put her finger on it...

Then suddenly, Iris remembered: “Oh! You two work over at S.T.A.R. Labs!” Both scientists gave Iris a surprised look, but now Iris was certain that she had stumbled upon pictures of them when she had researched S.T.A.R. Labs the day before. _**Not that they needed to know that, though**_...

“You are Barry's doctor, right? I think he's mentioned you before,” Iris addressed Caitlin, not wanting to direct the attention of Barry's friends (and Barry himself) to her unusual extensive knowledge about the formerly striving research facility.

Caitlin nodded, sending Barry a strange look, “Yeah, I am.”

“So, what brings you two to the CCPD's crime lab? - Sorry, asking too many questions is a side effect of being a journalist,” Iris apologized, but still genuinely interested in their answer.

The three scientists exchanged nervous glances.

“Ah... Caitlin just helped me finishing up processing the evidence and Cisco built up the equipment for our experiments,” Barry explained, motioning towards a table with various devices on it; the only thing Iris could instantaneously recognize was a subwoofer.

“Oooh, that is so cool! What are we gonna do? What is that stuff?” Wally asked eagerly, intensely eyeing the mysterious appliances.

“Oh, I like this kid,” Cisco grinned, obviously enjoying Wally's enthusiasm. “You're going to love this,” he promised the 8-year-old, “I can guarantee that. After all, I gave Barry the ideas for it.”

“Really?” The boy asked, saucer-eyed.

“Sure thing, buddy,” Cisco shrugged nonchalantly, “maybe Barry can bring you and your aunt along S.T.A.R. Labs sometime; we have some real fun toys there if you're interested...”

Wally looked about ready to burst with excitement, grinning from ear to ear by the mere thought of that.

“Oooh, that would be soo awesome! Could we do that? Please?” The boy pleaded, giving his best puppy dog pout, eyes darting between his aunt and Barry.

Iris sent a questioning look towards Barry. She very rarely denied her nephew something because he was a really good kid and his wishes were most of the time very modest and realizable (well, except maybe the time he wished for an entire house made of chocolate for his 5th birthday and even then, Iris had tried hard finding a chocolate house in a size suitable for a 5-year-old's consumption, only to end up making a three-dimensional house out of chocolate herself – it had looked crappy but Wally had loved it anyway, almost refusing to eat that piece of hard work) – but Iris had noticed the stern glance Caitlin had been giving Cisco, plus Iris's very limited findings from last night's research still lingered on her mind...

“I guess... But why not focus on the experiments we're gonna run today first? We can figure the rest out later; Caitlin and Cisco were just about to leave, anyway,” Barry said.

“Yeah, that's right. We have to head back for work - Dr. Wells is probably already waiting for us... Very nice meeting you, Wally... Iris,” and with that, both S.T.A.R. Labs employees said their good-byes.

“Sooo,” Barry started, handing Iris and Wally safety goggles, “I was thinking that we could start shattering this wine glass with sound waves, by making use of the phenomenon of resonance-” Wally's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree hearing that, “and then we could make oobleck and explore the characteristics of Newtonian fluids-”

“Oobleck?” the 8-year-old interjected, glancing at his aunt who looked like she was stifling laughter, “Like in **'Bartholomew and the Oobleck'**? Aunt Iris and I read that yesterday.”

“Oh, you did?” Barry sent a stern glare at Iris who was whistling innocently, the impish twinkle in her eyes betraying her act.

“Yeah, a bit like in **'Bartholomew and the Oobleck',** I guess...”

* * *

 About an hour later, the experiments had been conducted successfully and a ton of tricky questions had been answered (and again, there were some Barry couldn't explain off the bat), Iris and an exhilarated Wally were gathering their stuff together to head back home. Barry was cleaning up the lab (Wally was still a little sad that Iris wouldn't let him take the oobleck home with them), the three of them chatting comfortably.

The forensic scientist was just carefully sweeping up the glass shards when the police radio sitting on a table near the window announced that a toxic gas attack at CC shopping mall had been reported.

Iris's eyes darted to Barry, who let the dust pan and brush clatter onto the lab table unceremoniously, looking frantic.

“Ehm.. I think I have to leave right now...um... duty calls, right?” He stammered nervously, hurrying to his locker, taking out a light gray duffle bag. “I'm sorry, gotta go,” he apologized, then dashed out of the room, leaving a baffled Iris and Wally behind.

“But if Barry's got to go to work, shouldn't he have taken his tool kit with him?” Wally asked confusedly, looking at his aunt.

Iris felt heat and coldness wash over her simultaneously, making her shiver. She had no idea what to say about her nephew's incredibly astute observation... she only knew that the once so ridiculous and impossible theory from yesterday's research didn't sound so ridiculous and impossible anymore.

* * *

 Iris and Wally spent the rest of the late afternoon baking brownies. There were a thousand thoughts racing through Iris's head and making brownies was something she could do on autopilot, so Wally wouldn't notice her absent-mindedness too much, while he was still excitedly babbling about the experiments from earlier today.

Aunt and nephew were just cleaning up the kitchen while the brownies were baking in the oven, filling the house with a delicious scent, when Joe came back home, strained look on his face.

“Hey, Dad. What's wrong?” Iris asked her father, while Wally hurried upstairs after a joyful hello to change out of his flour stained shirt (he had begun cleaning the far end of the counter, leaning all over the dusty surface – not exactly the smartest move, considering he was a pretty bright kid, as Aunt Iris had teased playfully).

“Another homicide by gas. A judge. We worked together from time to time,” Joe explained with a stoic look on his face.

“Aww, Dad, I'm so sorry for that,” Iris said, giving her father a comforting hug.

“I'm okay, Baby. The Al- Barry, on the other hand, didn't take the news too well. When he returned later on from his short notice dental appointment, he holed himself up in his lab – I'm not even sure if he ever met Judge Howard,” he told his daughter, brows furrowed.

 _ **Dental appointment, huh?**_ The dreadful feeling from earlier emerged again, spreading from the pit of Iris's stomach to her heart, clinging tightly to it.

The ' **pling** ' sound from the oven directed her attention back to the baking brownies, giving Iris an idea.

“You know what? Maybe I'll drop off some of the brownies by the precinct,” Iris announced, putting on the oven mittens to take the pan out of the oven, “Brownies make everything better.”

Joe let out a rumbling laugh, “Sure they are.” He turned serious, giving his daughter a piercing stare: “You really like him, don't you?”

Suddenly, Iris felt very hot and it surely wasn't the heat from the freshly-baked brownies.

Luckily, Wally skipping into the kitchen, excited to tell his grandpa about his afternoon, spared Iris from having to answer that question.

* * *

 After Wally's lengthy tale about today afternoon the brownies were cooled down enough to get them out of the pan. The 8-year-old shot his aunt a suspicious look when he saw her putting some of the brownies into a lunch box, “what is that for?” He asked, eyes narrowed.

“I wanted to bring Barry some brownies over; as a thank-you, if you will,” Iris explained, closing the box.

“Oh... okay,” Wally conceded, the frown disappearing. “Tell Barry that I helped making them!” He added as an afterthought, smiling proudly.

Iris laughed, “sure I will,” she assured her nephew, heading for the coat-rack next to the front door.

“I've just started cooking... and we already run late today,” Joe pointed out sternly, glancing at the clock.

Iris gave her father an apologetic smile: “I know... I won't be long.... I'll be back in time for dinner, I promise!” Then she quickly got dressed and left.

* * *

 Outside, Iris picked out her cellphone, texting Barry a short ' **where r u?** '. She didn't miss the new messages in her in-box, people claiming that the Flash must have been at the site of crime this evening – no sightings this time, but several people swore that there had been this very distinct gust of wind that accompanied Central City's very own superhero.

Iris's phone vibrated, a new text message: ' **lab** '.

Uh-oh... someone was very definitely disheartened; most of the time, Barry's texts were about as long as his ramblings in person, defying the very idea of a ' _short_ message service'. Iris picked up the pace, clutching the box with brownies closer to her chest.

* * *

 When Iris arrived at the precinct, there were a lot of people sitting at their desks, but otherwise not much going on. Apparently a slow night in Central City tonight.

Iris nodded friendly when she saw someone she knew, heading for the crime lab upstairs. After a quick knock, she entered, a sad Barry Allen sitting in front of a giant pin board, staring at it intently.

“Hey Barry,” Iris greeted the young man, snapping him out of his trance.

“Oh, Iris, hi,” he stammered, nervously looking from the board to the young journalist.

“I thought I'd bring you by some brownies... Wally told me specifically to tell you that he helped making them,” Iris smiled, eyes trailing towards the board. “Oh.”

The entire pin board was covered in clippings of old newspaper articles and old photographs, a red thread connecting them to each other. Inching closer, Iris could make out the photos and headlines, all very familiar... familiar because she had seen and read them last night: “Is this...-?” Iris broke off, unable to finish her question, knowing the answer already.

“My Mom's case... She was murdered when I was eleven,” Barry whispered, eyes glistening. “My Dad... he was convicted for her murder, but he didn't do it... I told the police...” Barry voice broke off and he averted his teary eyes from Iris, staring at his feet.

Iris came closer, putting the box with brownies on a table near by.

“They didn't believe me, nobody believed me.” Barry mumbled, eyes still glued to the floor.

Iris's heart nearly broke in two.

“Hey,” she whispered softly, “I believe you. You said your father didn't do it... So he didn't.”

Barry looked up at her, giving her a watery smile, “You know about the case, don't you?”

Iris smiled back tentatively, “Cop's daughter. Couldn't help myself.”

The CSI let out a shaky laugh, furiously trying to blink away the tears in his eyes.

And without wasting a single thought on how they've only known one another for barely six days, Iris gently sat down on Barry's lap, hugging him close. He instinctively returned the embrace, burying his nose in the crook of her neck, tightening his grip like a drowning man reaching for a lifeline.

They sat there for a while, sharing this comforting intimacy, tuning out the world around them.

Finally, Barry broke the silence: “I'm sorry,” he said, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. “It's just... Sometimes...on the job... there are these moments when you just feel like you just can't do anything to help someone, that you are too late... And, I mean, I couldn't even help my own Dad...”

“Barry,” Iris said sternly, immediately drawing his attention to her, “you do good every day. Your job – even if you can not save everyone; you still save a frigging lot of people by putting bad guys away... I mean, without your evidence they couldn't convict these criminals,” she added, deciding that now was a really bad time to talk about his possible career as super-powered crime-fighter, “And about your Dad... maybe I could help you?”

Barry looked at her completely baffled, like he couldn't believe what she just suggested.

Iris smiled, “a really sweet guy once told me that I had real talent at being a journalist... something about persistence?”

They both grinned widely at each other.

“Thank you, Iris,” Barry said, genuinely heartfelt.

A buzzing of Iris's phone stopped her from replying. She tossed a quick glance at it. A text message with the words ' **dinner?** ' read on the display.

“Oh, shoot!” Iris exclaimed, earning a surprised look from Barry. “My Dad,” she explained, not wanting to leave Barry here but also not wanting to have Wally and her father have dinner alone. An idea formed in her mind: “Hey, how about you come with me? For dinner? My Dad always cooks these enormous portions when Wally is over and you probably didn't have any dinner yet, did you?”

“Iris, I can't just come over for dinner uninvited...” Barry protested lamely, but also not wanting Iris to leave him here at the precinct.

The journalist pretended not to listen, typing a short message, “Now you are invited. By me. Besides, I need an excuse for being late... Now I can say that your tardiness rubbed off on me.”

With that, Iris jumped off Barry's lap, pulling him up from the chair. Barry laughed, letting Iris drag him with her (the brownie box still laid on the table, completely forgotten).

 


	6. Of Concentration and Coincidences

Barry and Iris arrived at the West's house 15 minutes later. Iris unlocked the door, letting them in.

“So sorry for being late!” Iris shouted before anyone was even in sight, hurriedly hanging her and Barry's coats on the racks. After quickly putting their shoes away, both young adults made their way to the dining room, Barry slightly trailing behind.

The table was already set and Wally seated at his usual spot, grinning at them: “Grandpa texted a bit before the mac'n'cheese was done because he knew that you wouldn't be on time.” Iris and Barry exchanged a surprised look, making the 8-year-old giggle.

Right on cue, Joe entered the dining room, carrying a bowl of salad. “You don't need to be a detective to know that 'I won't be late' means anything but that,” the cop stated amusedly, putting the bowl down right next to the casserole dish. Wally wrinkled his nose at the sight of the vegetable.

“Yeah... but it was totally Barry's fault, though... His super-tardiness canceled out my halfway decent punctuality,” Iris joked, nudging the CSI's shoulder in a teasing manner.

“Well... sorry about that,” Barry retorted bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck. Iris giggled.

Wally joined his aunt, while Joe rolled his eyes at his daughter's childish behavior. “Come on, let's eat,” the cop proposed, motioning for the two adults to sit down.

Grinning, Iris plopped down on her regular seat, patting the chair next to her. Barry sat down next to her, smiling at Wally who was seated across the two young adults and who beamed back at him.

(And Iris had been right: there were enormous portions of food there, not that Barry minded that. At all.)

* * *

 After dinner, Wally suggested to play a game (in a fairly obvious attempt to put off his bedtime) and the four of them settled for a quick round of _Concentration_. It was a hard-fought battle, but in the end, Wally emerged as the triumphant winner, with Barry and Iris sharing second place (as they both had won the exact same amount of cards), closely behind the 8-year-old. Joe justified his quite blatant losing by pointing out how late it already was (which also served as a reminder for Wally to get ready for bed). Pouting, the boy gathered his cards extra slowly before handing them over to Barry who was safely putting the pieces away into the box.

“Aww, come on; there is no reason to look so low-spirited! You just won the hard-earned first place! Though I would advise you not to rest on your laurels... I demand a rematch for some other time,” Barry joked, winking, “I'm also pretty good at _Operation_ if you ever feel like taking on a challenge,“ Barry teased, Wally's face lightening up instantaneously at this proposition before he finally said his good-nights and Joe started shooing his grandson upstairs to get ready for bed.

“Oh you have no idea what you're up against, Allen,” Iris joked, stowing the game away back into the shelf where it belonged, “Wally's gonna destroy you, believe me.”

“Ah... I wouldn't be too sure of that. Recently, I had a lot of practice,” Barry said, remembering his training at S.T.A.R. Labs that had been a really odd hybrid of ping-pong, _Operation_ and chess.

“Well, I just know that I wouldn't want to play _Ligretto*_ against you,” Iris replied in a teasing manner, before she became aware of the hidden implication of her remark.

Barry froze, staring at her nervously, “Um.. and why would that be?”

Seeing Barry so freaked out only reinforced her theory but his alarmed expression as well as the awareness that her dad and Wally were just upstairs, probably still within hearing range, made Iris backpedal quickly: “Um... Because you'd flee from me – I swear worse than a sailor while playing this game; your innocent ears couldn't take it.”

The CSI relaxed again, though a glint of worry remained in his eyes. Still, he returned her playful tone, “You sure they couldn't?”

Iris nodded fervently – after all, it was the truth; she really had shocked her friends with some pretty imaginative curse words the first time they had played that game.

“Well, then thanks for the heads-up,” he joked.

A shuffle of small feet and the sound of opening and closing a door sounded from upstairs, followed by heavy footsteps descending the stairs. Shortly after, Joe peeked into the room: “Alright you two, I'll get ready for bed as well, it's fairly late already,” a look at the clock showed that it was 23:06, “good night.”

Both young adults wished the cop a good night, awkwardly standing in the dining room after Joe left.

Finally, Barry broke the silence: “Well, I guess I should get going...-”

“I'll see you out,” Iris offered with a smile, motioning towards the front door.

They padded outside, standing on the porch again, just like after their first date on Monday, Iris noted. And if she interpreted Barry's expression correctly, the same thought had crossed his mind, too.

He cleared his throat nervously, sporting a hopeful smile: “I was wondering if you were free on Friday? Maybe for a second... date? We could go to the movies... or bowling... or whatever you'd like!” Barry added hastily, gesturing wildly.

Iris laughed, “I'm definitely free on Friday... And I'm totally on board with either of these options; I love movies and I love bowling, so... take your pick, Allen,” she winked at him, silently wondering how they both could be so in tune with one another.

The forensic scientist grinned back at her, equally mischievous: “I think we could manage both, don't you agree?”

“I like the way you think.” Iris stepped forward, gently grabbing the lapels of Barry's blazer. Her facial expression turned from playful to genuinely concerned: “Are you feeling better now, Bear?” The nickname rolled off her tongue easily, evoking a soft smile from Barry.

“Most definitely... thanks to you, Iris.”

It was really remarkable how good he felt now after his devastating low earlier this evening... on the other hand, Iris just had that effect on people... or at least on him. Like his personal sun, chasing the dark clouds of guilt away.

“Y'know, there'd be one thing that would make me feel even better right now...” he grinned dopily down at Iris, making her roll her eyes.

“You are such a dork, Allen.” And with that, Iris got up on her tippy-toes, kissing Barry gently on the mouth. Again, Iris's skin tingled pleasantly but this time, the feeling was less like that of an electric shock and more like an all-engulfing warmth, comforting, familiar... a feeling of home.

When they finally parted, the clock struck quarter past eleven.

“Wow...um... I should... yeah, well... um...go... I guess...” Barry stammered, completely befuddled.

Iris smiled, feeling equally light-headed, “I suppose so... a good night's sleep never hurts anyone... Good night, Barry.” She gave him a peck on the cheek, enjoying the baffled look on his face.

“G'night,” Barry mumbled, a bit dazed. With a fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach, Iris watched Barry stagger into the darkness before she headed inside the house herself.

* * *

 Iris spent the following day at work trying to find a connection between the recent gas attacks, as well as trying to come up with a way to bring up her speedy theory in a conversation with Barry... And she did not really succeed with either matter:

After searching the entire CCPD database, Iris only found one tie between the Darbinyan crime family and Judge Theresa Howard and that was a former hit-man named Kyle Nimbus. But he had been executed over nine months prior the homicides, so... so much for that... Iris even vaguely remembered her dad telling her about this case back then, as he had been the one to arrest Nimbus...

She didn't make any progress on the Barry-front, either. Iris doubted that “Oh by the way, I just had the oddest idea that you might be the Flash – care to clear that up for me?” was the smoothest way to handle the entire... _**situation**_ , but for now that was all she could come up with.

Slightly disgruntled, she returned back home and was greeted by her dad and Wally who were just about to head for the park to play ball, asking if she wanted to join them. Still deep in thought about both the gas-case and Barry maybe-quite-probably being the Flash, Iris declined the invitation, watching Wally skip happily next to his grandpa, laughing cheerfully.

Iris made herself some coffee and went back to work, something in the back of her mind kept nagging her about Kyle Nimbus...

She went over all the data multiple times but still couldn't figure out what was bothering her. With an exasperated sigh, Iris decided to let this rest for a while and instead turned her attention back to her other problem... The journalist even dug out the notepad with all the findings of her research, hoping to find some inspiration there – and her eyes got caught on the date marking the explosion of the particle accelerator: _**12.11.2013**_. Iris was sure that she had just read this date somewhere else... She took another look at the data about Kyle Nimbus and there it was: Nimbus had been sent to the **gas chamber** on the exact same day the particle accelerator had exploded... _**What a strange coincidence**_...

The ringing of the phone downstairs startled Iris out of her thoughts. The young journalist hurried down the stairs, answering the phone: “Iris West speaking.”

“Hey, it's Barry,” the forensic scientist's voice sounded from the other end of the line, frantic, “Is your dad there? He's not at the precinct and, um... I need to talk to him.”

“Um, no,” Iris stuttered, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach, “he's at Sheldon Park with Wally... - Is everything okay? Is it something important?”

She could hear Barry cursing under his breath, “Oh, no, it's just... work-related stuff, yeah... But I've gotta go... I'll call you later!” And with these hurried words, he hung up on Iris.

Now Iris was really worried. Barry wasn't exactly what you would call a good liar and he had sounded extremely upset. Nervously, Iris dialed her dad's cellphone number, but nobody picked up. She dialed again, a feeling of dread spreading throughout her entire body. This time, the line was busy.

Iris made the decision to go to Sheldon Park to make sure everything was okay. She hurried upstairs, grabbed her cellphone and stuffed it into her purse, rushing downstairs again. She was just slipping into her shoes when the telephone on the end table started ringing. Iris darted towards the phone, picking it up: “Hello?”

“Aunt Iris!” It was Wally on the other end of the line and he sounded like he was crying, “You've gotta come here! Grandpa...-” Wally hiccuped and Iris could feel herself break into sweat, “he was attacked! There was this man – and he turned into green smoke! And, and... he attacked Grandpa! And he fell to the ground and started shaking-” another hiccup, “and then the Flash came and he gave Grandpa something and he stopped shaking and, and then he told me to call 911 and then he ran after the smoke-guy-,” a sniffle, followed by a hiccup interrupted Wally's narration this time, “and I did – call 911, I mean – and I don't know what to do!”

“Okay, calm down, Wally!” Iris tried to appease her nephew, a plan forming in her mind, “You did really good, but now listen: I'm gonna drive to the park right now, but I've got to hang up on you for that, okay?”

“No, please don't hang up!” Wally protested hysterically, nearly breaking Iris's heart.

“Shhh, Wally, calm down! I'm gonna call you right back from my cell, okay? I'll talk with you on the way... I won't leave you alone, alright?” Iris already fished her car keys out of her purse, not wanting to waste any more time.

“Oh-o-kay,” Wally stammered, hiccuping again.

“I'll call you right back,” Iris assured her nephew, then hung up.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Ligretto: is a card game with the goal to get rid of all the cards on your hand; all players play simultaneously so this game is ridiculously fast and if you're too slow, somebody else might put their card on a stack you wanted to put your card on - a lot of potential for conflicts here, I’d advise to only play with your closest friends (seriously, the part about Iris surprising her friends with curse words? That bit was from experience ^^;) On another side note, there exists a similiar game called Dutch Blitz… and The Flash is somtimes called “Roter Blitz” (rot = red) in the old German translations of the comic books (I think he is only called The Flash nowadays, but I don’t read the German translations, so I don’t really know), I just thought this was kind of funny ^^


	7. The Fog is Lifting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris rushes to Sheldon Park where her father was attacked.

Iris immediately took out her cellphone and dialed her dad's phone number, already darting outside the house, carelessly slamming the front door shut with a loud ' **wham** '. Wally picked up right after the first ringing, Iris could hear his sniffling before he managed out a piteous “hey”.

“Hey Wally, I'm here,” Iris said in a soothing voice, jerking the car door open. “It's gonna be alright, you hear me?” she added, putting the phone on speaker and clumsily setting it in the phone holder so she had her hands free. With trembling fingers Iris put the key into the ignition, fumbling. On the other end of line, Wally let out another hiccup. Iris started the engine, almost forgetting to put on her seat-belt.

“Okay, Wally, I'm on my way,” Iris told her nephew who still had been completely silent apart from sniffles and the occasional hiccup, “But I need you to describe where exactly you are at the park, okay?”

“Mhm,” Wally hummed nervously, then began describing his and Joe's location. He did a really good job, because Iris could tell after the first few features where her nephew was at but she decided to let him keep on talking as it gave him something to do and really helped calming him down (even the hiccups had stopped).

After only a few minutes (the park really wasn't far away from their house; also, Iris may had exceeded the assigned speed limit just a bit), the reporter arrived at the east entrance of Sheldon Park, an ambulance already there. Iris quickly pulled over and hurried towards Wally who was standing close to the ambulance, forlorn, worriedly watching the paramedics do their work.

“Wally!” Iris called out, attracting the boy's attention to herself. Wally ran towards her, wrapping his arms tightly around her middle. Iris returned the hug, combing a hand through her nephew's hair soothingly.

“It's gonna be okay,” Iris assured Wally again, then went over to the EMTs to find out to which hospital they were going to take her dad. After a quick exchange with the paramedics, Iris returned to Wally, wrapping an arm around her nephew and guided him to her car.

When they both finally had gotten into the blue Ford (and Iris made sure they both did not forget to buckle their seat-belts this time), the ambulance was already on its way to Central City Hospital.

Iris examined Wally (who was sitting in the back) via the rearview mirror; the 8-year-old appeared to be calmer than he had sounded at the beginning of their phone call, though it seemed that he was starting to become more nervous again from just sitting there.

Remembering how Wally had become a bit more relaxed when he had been busy describing his and Joe's location, Iris decided to give that tactic another try: “So...what did exactly happen, Wally?”

The boy's eyebrows knitted together, obviously trying hard to recall as much as possible.

“We just had arrived at the park and had started playing and I had missed the ball Grandpa had tossed my way,” Wally started his report, his nervousness ebbing away, replaced by pure concentration, “So I went to the bench it had rolled behind and when I came back, there was this strange guy walking up to Grandpa. He wore like a weird dark gray pajama-kinda-thing. And he was ghostly pale, like he hadn't seen the sun for ages. He had no hair, not even eyebrows!” The kid added, apparently still completely bewildered by that, “And his eyes were really creepy. Very dark and with dark circles underneath them. And he said something to Grandpa, but I couldn't hear... That guy looked very scary while saying whatever he said and Grandpa looked really surprised and afraid – I've never seen Grandpa so afraid before! And Grandpa spotted me and motioned for me not to come closer and then... then the creepy guy just... turned into a cloud of green smoke! And the smoke moved by itself! Gas doesn't normally do that, right? It normally just... disperses or something like that.” Wally scrunched up his nose in confusion before he turned his attention back to his narration, “But that green smoke didn't. Instead it moved... inside Grandpa, through his mouth and nose... and Grandpa gasped for air, but couldn't... “Wally's own breathing hitched a little, making his aunt feel bad for having him retell this horrible event, ”couldn't breathe... and then the smoke moved out of Grandpa... and he fell to the ground and started shaking... and that smoke turned back into a man and he gave me a really creepy stare...”

The 8-year-old shuddered at this memory, “And then he turned around and just... walked away,” Wally whispered, incredulous how anybody could do such a thing in cold blood.

“But then the Flash appeared, right?” Iris threw in, not wanting for Wally to dwell too long on this disturbing aspect of his story.

The mention of Wally's favorite hero really did the trick and the boy's face lightened up considerably: “Yeah! He just appeared with a loud 'whoosh' as soon as that gas-guy was out of hearing range! He had a syringe in his hand and injected Grandpa with some red liquid – and right after the injection, Grandpa stopped shaking and started to breathe normally again. And then he turned to me and said that I should call 911... but I was still too shocked to react,” the boy admitted ashamedly, “and then the Flash had picked up Grandpa's cellphone from the ground and pressed it into my hand, his other on my shoulder and he repeated his words and I finally could move again and he sped away, following the creepy guy – and wait!” Wally stopped for a moment, a bewildered look on his face.

“Wait what?” Iris asked, also confused.

Wally's eyes met his aunt's in the rear view mirror: “I think he called me by my name... Isn't that weird? Hmm...” the 8-year-old mulled over his new-found realization.

Iris had a pretty clear idea how the Scarlet Speedster had come to know about her nephew's name, though she wasn't entirely sure how Wally would take to that – not that she had a real confirmation of her theory anyway...

Wally came up with another explanation: “Do you think the Flash knows about my Flash Fan Club?”

Iris couldn't help but smile at that, “I suppose so,” she agreed (and if her theory was correct, the Flash actually did know about Wally's fan club).

“Huh... well, his voice sounded really strange... distorted somehow... and his face was blurred... Isn't that weird? That he blurs his face although he is already wearing a mask?” the young boy observed.

Iris didn't know what she should say about that – luckily, she didn't have to as they arrived at the hospital just at that moment. They quickly got out of the car and hurriedly made their way into the building.

* * *

 The completely unfazed woman at the hospital's reception desk informed them that Joe was currently being examined by a doctor, handing Iris some forms that needed to be filled out. Aunt and nephew sat down in the waiting area, Iris wrestling with the seemingly endless amount of questions and Wally squirming in the uncomfortable chair.

Soon after they had sat down, a familiar voice made Iris look up from the form she was impatiently filling out – Eddie Thawne approached the two Wests, apparently on duty (he and Joe had been working the case about the mysterious gas attacks, after all). He looked worried, asking about Joe; unfortunately, Iris and Wally couldn't tell him much yet, so he returned back to the original reason for his appearance... his job. Eddie explained apologetically that he had hoped to be able to interview Wally about Joe's attack, so the CCPD could finally catch the maniac responsible for this.

After Wally reassured his aunt that he really was okay with doing that right now, she continued filling out the papers she had been given, keeping a keen eye on the detective and her nephew nevertheless.

Iris watched Wally repeat his story to Eddie, the cop knitting his brows when the 8-year-old came to the part about Nimbus' transformation (her dad's partner had confirmed Iris's suspicions that Wally's description of the strange smoke-man matched Kyle Nimbus's mugshot), but making no objections while writing it down. Because, really, if there was a red-clad hero running around the city who could break the sound barrier without breaking into a sweat, why couldn't there also be a criminal who turned into smoke?

The nonchalance that was displayed upon hearing the madness that her nephew was just describing made Iris think how just fifteen years ago, another young boy had told an equally impossible story – and nobody had believed a single word he'd said. The young reporter could only imagine how hard that must have been for Barry and was more than glad that at least Wally didn't have to deal with people telling him he was making his story up.

Iris had finally managed to fill out all the forms and handed them to the receptionist, when a doctor came up to talk to her. He assured Iris that her father seemed to be fine (they still would have to wait and see for the blood analysis and another medical examination, but for now it looked like there were no aftereffects to be worried about) – Joe had been given some hundred percent oxygen for the mild hypoxemia he had suffered and needed a lot of rest due to extreme exhaustion but it seemed that the antidote the Flash had injected Iris's father with had worked perfectly. Joe needed to stay for medical observation tonight, though.

Iris thanked the doctor wholeheartedly and returned to Wally and Eddie (the detective was just getting ready to head back for the precinct) to tell them the good news. Wally grinned from one ear to the other, hugging his aunt tightly and Eddie looked really relieved when he said his good-byes, promising to keep in touch (he was Joe's partner, after all).

After that, Iris made use of her persistence to find out to what room her father was being transferred to. It took a bit of nagging but in the end, the now rather unnerved receptionist told Iris the room number (probably just that quickly to get Iris off her back... but at least it had worked).

* * *

 After nearly getting lost twice in the long and maze like hallways of Central City Hospital, Wally and Iris finally found room 403, where Joe had been transferred to.

Joe was lying in the hospital bed, asleep. Wally raced over to his grandfather's side, eyeing him intently as if a just intense enough stare from the 8-year-old could make his grandpa wake up and assure them he was fine.

Iris walked over to Wally, understanding the boy's anxiousness; she didn't like the sight of her strong father in a hospital bed... it made him look weaker than she knew he was.

“It's gonna be alright. Grandpa will be fine,” Iris smiled down reassuringly at her nephew, ruffling his hair, “The doctor said that he is just exhausted and needs a lot of rest. He's going to have to stay tonight for medical observation, but he should be good to go home tomorrow.”

Wally smiled up at his aunt with bleary eyes, the adrenaline from earlier wearing off, leaving the 8-year-old exhausted.

“I'm gonna get a coffee. Do you want me to get you something? Something to drink? Or eat ?” Wally just shook his head no and curled up on the chair closest to the hospital bed.

“I'll be right back.” Iris promised and left the room in search of a vending machine.

* * *

 Her quest for coffee wasn't very fruitful, unfortunately, as the only coffee vending machine Iris found was out of of order. She decided to call off the search, not wanting to leave Wally alone for too long. Iris was just one hallway away from the room her father was staying in, when she suddenly heard a very familiar voice mutter “Room 403, 403...”

Iris peeked around the corner and yes, there he was: “Barry!”

The young man spun around, spotting her: “Iris! I came as soon as I could... Is your dad okay?” Iris smiled widely, flinging her arms around Barry's neck, hugging him so tightly that he stumbled a bit backwards before regaining his balance again.

“My dad is fine, the doctor says there are no residual aftereffects!” Iris beamed at Barry who looked just as glad and relieved as she was feeling. In that moment Iris decided to throw all caution in the wind, gave Barry a short but sweet peck on the mouth and looked him straight in the eye: “Thank you for saving him, Barry.”

Iris could feel his body tense at her words. “I... I don't know what you're talking about,” Barry stuttered, eyes widening in alarm.

Iris couldn't help but roll hers, “I **know** , Barry. I mean you just called mere seconds before my father got attacked by some madman, that's not exactly subtle. Besides, there were other signs... Oh, and you are one terrible liar.” She couldn't suppress a giggle when she saw the flabbergasted look on his face.

“I...,” Barry started, sporting the same facial expression he always wore when he tried to come up with some lame excuse but then shook his head, giving Iris a sheepish smile instead, “I like to think that I'm not that terrible at lying... I guess you're just too perceptive.”

“If that makes you feel better,” Iris teased, a bit surprised that he was taking her knowing about his alter ego so well.

“Caitlin already predicted that you would find out if I wasn't careful enough... Aww, man.. I'm definitely in for an 'I told you so' from her,” Barry grimaced. “Oh and it was Caitlin who developed that antidote I used on your dad, by the way. I can't take credit for that.”

“I'll thank her for that later. Definitely. So you, Caitlin and Cisco were talking about Kyle Nimbus in your lab yesterday, weren't you?”

Barry stared at Iris, totally baffled, “How do you know about Nimbus?”

“I investigated the case of the gas attacks. The only connection I found between Judge Howard and the Darbinyan crime family-”

“Was Nimbus.” The forensic scientist finished the sentence for her.

Iris nodded: “Correct.”

Barry looked at her in disbelief completely taken aback. But then he remembered something, furrowing his brow: “But Nimbus was thought to be-”

“Dead, I know. That's what threw me off from pursuing that lead at first.” the journalist admitted, “but the date of the day he was sent to the gas chamber kept nagging me and I realized that it was the same day that-”

“The particle accelerator exploded.”

Iris grinned proudly, “Exactly. And since I also kind of suspected you to be... y'know, the infamous fleet feet... and you got hit by lightning the exact same day, I just... took that into consideration. Plus, Wally's description of the attacker matched the mugshot I saw of Nimbus, so...” Iris shrugged nonchalantly.

Barry shook his head, utterly impressed: “You know when I said that your were a great journalist?” Iris nodded, beaming.

“That was a total understatement. You are an **amazing** journalist, Iris. This is incredible.”

Iris couldn't help the blush forming on her cheeks. She was pretty sure that if she smiled any wider, her face would split into two. “Thanks, Bear.”

Iris watched Barry's face light up again at her use of that nickname (it was kind of adorable, really), when she remembered why he had come here in the first place.

“Come on, let's head inside,” she said, grabbing his hand, motioning towards the door of room 403, “I promised Wally I'd be back soon, though he's probably asleep by now anyway; he was pretty exhausted.”

The two young adults entered the room and, as Iris had predicted, found a dozing Wally in the chair next to the hospital bed. But Wally sleeping wasn't the only thing that had changed since Iris had set out for her coffee quest: Joe was awake now, watching his grandson sleep.

“Dad!” Iris exclaimed happily, barely remembering to keep her voice down so she wouldn't wake up Wally just yet.

“Baby, I'm fine, don't worry,” Joe said, returning Iris's bear hug. The cop sent Barry an odd look over his daughter's shoulder,“luckily, the Flash was there right on time...”

Barry tried telling himself that he was just seeing things due to his exhaustion from fighting Nimbus, but that strange glint in Joe's eyes remained. And he'd seen that look on the detective's face only when he was facing a particular difficult case... And it's common knowledge that Joe West always solves his cases... _**Oh boy**_...

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no knowledge of what is going on in hospitals, sorry... I got all the information I incorporated in this tidbit by googling and asking my sister (she watched quite a lot of episodes of ER ;) I'm sorry if I got this completely wrong ^^;  
> The title was also my sister's suggestion.


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo... it's pretty much canon that Barry is terrible at keeping a secret identity, right? ;)

The second week of knowing Barry Allen was almost just as turbulent as the first one (not that Iris was too surprised, although the calm beginning of week number two had led her to believe that a little downtime could be a possibility in their lives... but oh well, where would be the fun in that?).

* * *

On Friday, Joe was released from the hospital, fully recovered, exactly as the doctor had predicted. Barry and Iris postponed their date to Saturday night despite Joe's assurance that he was completely fine; Iris simply didn't feel comfortable with the idea of leaving Wally and her dad alone just yet. Instead, Barry came over for the highly anticipated re-match of _Concentration_ and several other games they decided to play that evening (and again, Wally kicked their butts in _Concentration_ and – as Iris had foreseen – gave Barry a run for his money when they played _Operation_ , leaving the forensic scientist completely baffled).

* * *

On Saturday, Barry and Iris went out for their second date. As it turned out, both of them were extremely competitive when it came to bowling, causing their bowling match to become a very heated one (in the end, Iris had won by a whisker, teasing Barry the entire way from the bowling alley to the cinema). They had just settled down in their assigned seats in the auditorium with an extra large popcorn on the armrest between them (Barry had explained the reason behind his completely nuts eating habits to her and Iris couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of this particular side-effect of Barry's accelerated metabolism) when Barry's cellphone buzzed. Earning a couple of angry stares as well as a few not-so-friendly groans and 'shhhs', the CSI hurriedly answered in a hushed voice, listening to Cisco on the other end of the line. Apparently, there was a robbery in progress in a store not far away from the movie theater. Barry tossed a nervous glance in Iris's direction, then back to his phone.

“Just go,” Iris urged, as the commercials came on, “if you hurry, you might be back before the movie starts.” Barry smiled at her encouragement and hastily got up, clumsily making his way past the people who were already seated and to the exit in the back.

To his own surprise, the super-powered crime-fighter actually returned right on time, the logo of the film's production company flashing on the screen when he sat down next to Iris.

“See? No big deal, fleet-feet,” Iris grinned, playfully flinging a piece of popcorn at him, before she turned her attention back to the big screen.

Barry spent the first ten minutes of the movie gazing at his date in utter admiration, amazed that he could be so unbelievably lucky.

* * *

On Sunday, Barry took Iris to S.T.A.R. Labs with him, to answer all the questions the journalist had accumulated over the course of months she had immersed herself in reports concerning a certain mysterious streak. The couple was greeted quite joyfully by Cisco and Caitlin (as it turned out, Caitlin's cold shoulder regarding Iris earlier had really only stemmed from a fear that the journalist would uncover Barry's secret and use that knowledge to her advantage... Iris didn't take those concerns personally – with overly-optimistic and -trustful Barry and Cisco around, Caitlin's wariness served as a kind-of-warranted counterpart). Iris also used the opportunity to thank Caitlin for developing the antidote that had saved her father, although Caitlin just shrugged and smiled, replying that this simply was what they were trying to do at S.T.A.R. Labs: helping people.

Before the situation could turn into some mushy love fest, Cisco decided to butt in, way too impatient to show off his inventions (or “babies” as he called them proudly) to someone other than the S.T.A.R. Labs team to wait much longer. His intense enthusiasm amused the journalist to no end. After completing Iris's tour around the research facility, it was pretty obvious that Wally's aptness for coming up with intricate questions was an inherited trait.

It was already pretty late when Barry and Iris finally said their good-bye to Cisco and Caitlin (who were also heading home) and Iris had to get up early for work the next day.

“I could give you a lift,” Barry offered with a wide grin on his face, giving the journalist a meaningful look.

Iris could feel excitement bubbling up inside her... she had been curious how it must feel to move at such an incredible speed... “But promise me not to try to run backwards,” she joked, referring to Barry's accident earlier while showing off.

A faint blush crept onto the speedster's face, “Um... yeah, I didn't really think that one through, did I?”

“Nope, not really,” Iris teased, smirking.

“Well, I'll promise not to try anything stupid...-”

“Don't make promises you can't keep.”

“Har. Har. Hilarious.” Barry rolled his eyes in fake-annoyance, “we'll take it slow – relatively speaking, I mean – the last time I sped someone over a longer distance than just a few feet her clothes caught fire...”

At the 'her' Iris raised an eyebrow: “Ah, so this is some wicked ploy of yours to get the ladies undressed; I'm truly appalled by this behavior, Barry Allen...”

The offender's eyes widened with alarm. “No, I didn't mean to – Felicity is just a friend... I hadn't thought of the friction, I'd create...um...” he tried to backpedal helplessly, fumbling with his hands (and words) until he noticed Iris giggling at his nervous antics, “oh.” He blushed a little when it finally dawned on him that the journalist was just pulling his leg.

Iris smiled apologetically, playfully tugging on the lapels of his jacket: “Well, under other circumstances I might wouldn't have minded if my clothes were to catch on fire-” Barry stared at her wide-eyed, trying hard to keep his jaw from dropping to the floor, “- but I'm rather fond of this blouse, so... I'm fine with slow...- _er_.”

At loss for words, Barry only nodded and picked up Iris in bridal-style when she raised her arms expectantly, giving him a reassuring smile.

Suddenly anxious, now that she was in Barry's arms, Iris remarked nervously: “Shouldn't I put on my seatbelt or something?”

“No need for that,” Barry assured her, pulling her closer to his chest, “I've got you.”

He could feel the grip of Iris's hands relax just a bit. Then they took off.

A few minutes later, they came to a halt right in front of the Wests' house. Gently, Barry put Iris back on her feet who was still holding on to his jacket.

“Oh my God,” she stammered breathlessly, “Oh... My... God.”

The superhero eyed Iris worriedly but was met with her breathtaking, brilliant smile: “This was AMAZING!”

Barry's wide grin almost matched Iris's as she babbled on: “You can practically hear the air crackling with electricity, the wind rushing past your face... this is just... amazing.” Still beaming, the journalist got up on her tiptoes and kissed Barry right on his still smiling lips.

“Thanks,” Iris added with a twinkle in her eyes (her thanks referring to both Barry giving her a lift and the kiss; the latter might not have been as fast-paced as the former but felt just as thrilling to Iris if she was honest).

“Anytime.” Was Barry's breathless response. He quickly regained his composure and remarked, smirking: “Just don't expect me to get you to CCPN and back home every day.”

“Please, I know better than that,” Iris replied in an equally joking manner, “after all, you can barely make it to your own day job on time.”

* * *

 On Monday morning, Barry was late for work again. Although this time, he hadn't overslept as ever so often but instead had been delayed because of his _other_ crime-fighting job; at first, there had been a robbery at Maple Street, then an almost-accident at the construction site he had passed by and after that he had taken care of a particularly tricky hostage drama.

Now, Barry hurried to the police station, nervously exiting the elevator; if Captain Singh was to notice him being tardy _again_ , he would be in for another lecture about 'the importance of punctuality on the job' for sure. He quickly looked around to make sure that the coast was clear and hurried towards the staircase leading towards the safety of his lab. The CSI had almost reached the stairhead when-

“Mr. Allen.” _**Uh-oh...**_

Wincing, Barry turned around to see his boss standing at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed sternly.

“Good morning, Captain Singh!” Barry greeted nervously, reluctantly walking down a few steps, “I ehm, I was just -” he fumbled with words, frantically trying to come up with a (at least somewhat) believable excuse he hadn't used yet.

“Detective West told me he had sent you to run an errand for him, I know, Allen.” _**He had?**_ Anyway, the young man wasn't going to question his luck right now.

“Yes, right... I'm sorry that it took me so long,” he apologized, but was cut off by the Police Captain: “It's alright, Allen – but I believe that there is a glove-print analysis report concerning yesterday's break-in that should be on my desk a.s.a.p.?”

“Yes, sir, I'll be right on it!” the forensic scientist assured most earnestly, eager to get to work (and eager to extricate himself from this conversation with his boss while he's still ahead).

After quickly (but thoroughly) finishing up the demanded report file and handing it over to Captain Singh, Barry decided to go see Joe (who had insisted on going back to work despite his daughter's concerns – he had some paperwork to catch up on and the Captain was making sure he that he wasn't assigned anything too strenuous for now anyhow) to clear up the entire 'errand'-thing.

The CSI didn't find the detective at his desk though and was instead informed by Eddie that Joe had gone upstairs to the crime lab for a DNA-sample analysis for their case.

Returning back to his work station, Barry found the detective waiting for him. Before the scientist had a chance to ask the older man about this supposed errand Singh had talked about, Joe already stated that he was only there “to pick up the analysis for the Jameson-case”.

Confusedly shifting through the papers – he really should clean up the place sometime (not to mention get some paperweights – Caitlin was not exaggerating in her frustration whenever he zipped in and out of their den at S.T.A.R. Labs and swirled up all of the documents they had lying around at the moment; the chaos he left behind was unnerving) – Barry decided to just get right to the matter: “Joe – erm, Detective West?”

The corner of his mouth slightly twitching in amusement at the CSI's struggle on how to address him properly, the cop only raised an eyebrow and looked at Barry expectantly.

Nervously holding on to the report he had finally found in the mess that was his desk, the young man continued: “Captain Singh just told me I was supposed to run an errand for you? I did not know about any errand, sorry – but if you'd like me to I could still go-”

The detective cut off Barry's rambling: “You already did, from what I heard.”

The CSI looked at the cop in utter befuddlement: “I did?”

Motioning Barry to hand over the report, Joe simply shrugged: “Well, considering what I've heard from Detective Howard, I'd say you did a pretty good job at **running** that errand – or errands, to be more precise – for me; the whole precinct, actually.”

The police scientist was unable to utter a single word; he just stood there, gaping like a fish.

Completely unfazed, Joe began skimming the report: “It wasn't that hard to piece together.”

Awakening from his stupor, Barry could only shake his head: “Like daughter, like father, I guess.”

Now it was Joe's turn to be surprised: “Iris knows?”

“Well, she **is** a great reporter,” Barry pointed out, a little disappointed with his own inability to keep his secret identity – well – a secret.

“That she is,” Joe acknowledged proudly, then turned serious: “And I know that she is capable of taking care of herself and making her own decisions; she doesn't need her old man scaring off nefarious boys to keep her safe... But being with you is going to be a whole different level of hazardous for her than anything I have grown to expect for my little girl, so let me make myself clear:...”

Unbeknownst to Barry, the detective had given him the toned-down version of the 'protective-daddy-speech' (after all, Joe actually liked the forensic scientist who had not only saved his life but most importantly also looked at his daughter like she hung the moon; still, the he couldn't deny that he kind of enjoyed making the superhero-boyfriend of his daughter break out into sweat).

After Joe had left to get back to his own work (and the initial intimidation from the cop's 'protective-daddy-talk' had worn off), Barry found himself thinking that having someone at the precinct who could help cover whenever he was occupied with his other duties, surely couldn't hurt... especially someone with such an air of authority about him... _**Note to self: never get on Joe West's bad side.**_

* * *

 It was 3 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon when Iris came by Barry's lab to drop Wally off. They had made plans to show the 8-year-old around S.T.A.R. Labs today – after Iris had sternly instructed Cisco to keep all of the proclaimed “fun toys“ away from her nephew (the engineer had pouted all evening long but had no other choice but to promise to keep his end of the bargain). But before the three of them could set out for that, the journalist had a meeting with a potential source for her next article... that, for a change, wasn't Flash-related at all (after Iris had handed in her impressively detailed piece about the mysterious gas murderer her editor had finally entrusted her with an equally exclusive topic to “let her spread her wings a little”).

She amusedly watched Wally getting the stack of paper he had scribbled on throughout the entire weekend out of his backpack (the boy's questions got more and more elaborate – Iris could've sworn she'd even seen some graphs and diagrams on this day's load).

Barry's eyes widened at the sheer number of sheets Wally was now sorting by topic. Iris bit her lip to stop herself from bursting out into laughter.

“I'll see you at S.T.A.R. Labs at 5. Have fun, guys,” she couldn't help the teasing tone in her voice that earned her a mock-stern glare from the CSI.

After ruffling her nephew's hair and giving Barry a quick kiss (Wally pointedly looked away, muttering a “this is still weird” under his breath, making Iris roll her eyes and Barry grin like the lovesick idiot that he was), the journalist said her good-byes and left the police station.

A glance up to the sky made Iris glad that she had parked her car nearby; dangerous-looking clouds were blocking out the sun, bathing the whole city in a strange, gray-greenish light and Iris was not eager to having her make-up and outfit ruined by some sudden shower when she was about to meet up with her two favorite nerds later on at S.T.A.R. Labs. As soon as the reporter was on Main Street it started pouring like crazy, making it nearly impossible to see anything, even with the windshield wipers. The traffic light turned red and Iris stopped the car, watching the pedestrians run for shelter from the cascade-like rain. To top it all off, bolts of lightning weaved through the cloud cover like some kind of crazy laser show, with loud, booming thunder coming shortly after each flash. Suddenly, an exceptional bright flash of lightning lit up the sky, zigzagging across the clouds back to where Iris had come from, followed by an ear-shattering roll of thunder that made the glass panes in Iris's car vibrate. Right after, her phone started to ring – it was Barry. Iris answered the call, her heart pounding against her chest; and she learned that despite the odds, lightening had struck the same place twice... – even though it hadn't struck the same person...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have started writing a sequel called "Loveable Nerds and Superheroes II" (I'm terrible with titles, sorry), you can check it out here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7018519/chapters/15976486   
> I think it's going to be about 8 chapters, maybe a little longer...  
> And now to the most important part: THANK YOU!   
> Thanks for the nice comments, the kudos, everything! You guys are the best :)

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, and if anyone is interested, you can check out the "cover" I drew for this story on my blog here: http://theartofdreaming1.tumblr.com/post/136327569882/cover-art-of-my-flash-fanfiction-loveable-nerds


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